Ranger

I came into our bedroom after brushing my teeth one night and found Brian praying.

Is it just me, or does anyone else see the resemblance to one of our favorite books?

My very own Ranger...
Although (for those of you who have read the books), Brian is more of a Horace in my mind...

Bag-a-rama!

I had a bag sewing weekend! I am having so much fun figuring out my new sewing machine. I even made a button hole for the first time in my life!

This one is going to be for Sarah when I see her in MAY! I can't believe that she will be getting back from her mission already.
This one I made for my good friend Grace for her birthday. I am giving it to her today... I hope she likes it! My favorite part is the pleat. :)

We have a problem...

... it's called books.

More specifically, it's called McKay Used Books. It's the most awesome place EVER! If any of you know Brian, you know that he is a little OCD about the condition of his books. And HE actually finds books that he wants every time we go. It's starting to become a problem.

Here is documentation of a few (that's right, there's been others) of our trips to McKay.

I have a hard time saying no to "How Do Dinosaurs" and board books ($0.55 each!). Right now people look at us kinda funny if they realize that I have a whole shelf of baby books... but someday our future children are going to have an awesome selection of board books!

This big pile of books cost us $5.25! Those Tom Clancy books were $0.25 each!

Yes, we have a problem...

my inspiration board

I had WAY too many ideas lying around on my desk, so after reading this blog, I decided to make myself an inspiration board. Luckily, I had a snow day to complete my project!

I found a big frame at goodwill ($6!) with an ugly picture in it.
I took out the ugly fox picture (apparently this was an original! No wonder it is so pixel-y)
Spray paint! Can you see all of that snow?! I had to spray paint on my front porch because I could only stand to be in the cold for as long as it took to quickly spray a coat of paint and then run back inside!
While the spray paint was drying, I cut out the joist sheeting that I had bought from Lowes (WAY cheaper than sheet metal! I found it in by the air duct materials).The blue was a little bit bright, so I glazed it with some old white paint mixed with water to give it some texture and tone down the blue.
While that was drying, I used my handy dandy glue gun to attach ribbon as a border. I tried to use materials I had on hand, thus the tiny polka dots. I may switch that out later if I find some ribbon that I like better (on sale of course!).
Then I put it all back in the frame and added some stickers. Again, I was trying to use things I already had-- I wanted to put some back vinyl in the shape of some scrolly damask or chandelier silhouette in the middle, but alas, the dollar store alphabet stickers will do for now!
Now it looks great above my desk! I can start pinning up all of my ideas and inspiration for new creative-ness!

Cheaper than Therapy

Teaching elementary school is hard. I've taught before, I know this. But I found out this year that teaching at a High Priority school is hard and stressful. So as a way of coping, I've adopted a new mantra:

"A good hobby is cheaper than therapy."

We've had 10 snow days so far this year, which have been great therapy days for me. Here are some of the therapeutic activities that I've been up to lately....

Over Christmas break, I found a piece of scrapbook paper with my mantra on it! It became this:


One of my new favorite recipes-- Blueberry muffins to die for

Brian Wright liked pretzels with sprinkes
His wife would eat them plain.
And so, betwixt the two of them,
No pretzels will remain!

My favorite project so far-- Ikea coffee table turned entry way bench!
BEFORE:AFTER:
I also made a magnet board for my craft table... I'll be posting that soon!

Whale Poem

My students do literacy centers every day. They do 10 a week with partners while I pull back small groups for focused instruction.

In the Science and Social Studies Connection center this week, my students had to research information about whales and then write a poem about whales. Here is my favorite:

For a fact people hunt down whales and use blubber
for rubber.
Well gee that sounds sad
you shouldn't be glad.
Those pour little whales
are becoming stail.
Whales eat krill.
Humans bbq them on a grill.

p.s. This kid has told me that his dad is a rapper. He also has 8 brothers and sisters and all of their names start with "Ter-".